MILESTONE MOMENTS
It ’ s anniversary time ! Members will have read how this year marks the 120th year since Ray opened his doors . But there ’ s another anniversary that ’ s really worth talking about .
This year marks the 100th year since Ray decided to move his business from the tiny town of Crows Nest ( west of Toowoomba ) to Brisbane . How big Brisbane must have seemed to someone with his background .
I am often asked , “ Whitey , what ’ s been the bravest move that your family has ever made ?” Was it opening our first branch ? Was it the decision to expand beyond Queensland ? Was it the decision to open in some other countries ?”
But could the bravest decision have been that one 100 years ago when Ray moved to Brisbane ? Why would he have done that ? Crows Nest was the tiniest town imaginable and for Ray to conduct any type of profitable business , he needed to be involved in everything .
He sold farm machinery . He sold livestock , including his famous pig auction day . He sold whatever real estate was available to be sold . He handled all the insurance needs of the township and even sold Model T Fords .
So why leave all that behind and move to a city that must have seemed huge in comparison ? Legend has it that he did it for the sake of his children ’ s education . He had four children on the verge of becoming teenagers . How on earth could Crows Nest provide a suitable education that enabled them to face the future with confidence ? One can imagine Ray becoming the first member of the 2am club !
But that was Ray ! He decided to have a go . He moved to Brisbane and rented some office space which fitted beautifully into his marketing - “ Next G . P . O ”.
One can see from the photograph the office was located next to the post office which , in that era , was the central part of any community .
One of his creative ideas was to capitalise on his history of living in the “ bush ” for so long . Each year , the biggest event in Brisbane was the Royal National Show Week ( now known as the Ekka ) where a program of events was conducted to encourage country folk to visit Brisbane , to meet people and to transact business and feel part of a growing state .
Ray would organise a special day where he encouraged his contacts from the west to come together and this led to some early opportunities for him to participate in all types of different transactions - a bit similar to us , today , welcoming southerners and answering their real estate ambitions .
Ray found that there was already strong organised competition in Brisbane and he sought to be involved in the industry as best he could .
He sought and became president of the Real Estate Institute of Queensland which facilitated his integration into the city and the community .
It is interesting to note that all the names of the Brisbane real estate families have not continued to operate , outside of Ray White . Remarkable !
One can be sure that without Ray ’ s bold adventure , the brand name that has become so powerful across our markets would no longer exist .
Brian White AO Ray White Group Chairman
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